(a) Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a thin film transistor array panel.
(b) Discussion of the Related Art
A liquid crystal display (LCD) is one of the most widely used flat panel displays. An LCD includes two panels and a liquid crystal (LC) layer interposed between the two panels. The panels contain field generating electrodes such as pixel electrodes and a common electrode. One such LCD, provides a plurality of pixel electrodes arranged in a matrix at one panel and a common electrode covering an entire surface of the other panel. The LCD displays images by applying voltages to the field-generating electrodes to generate an electrical field in the LC layer. The electrical field effects the orientation of LC molecules in the LC layer, thereby adjusting the polarization of incident light.
In a vertical alignment (VA) mode LCD, the long axes of the LC molecules are perpendicular to the panels in the absence of an electric field. This type of display has a high contrast ratio.
A PVA (patterned vertically aligned) mode LCD, which is really a modified VA mode LCD with cutouts added to the field generating electrodes, an IPS (in-plane switching) mode LCD, and a PLS (plane to line switching) mode LCD have been developed to obtain wider viewing angles.
However, PLS mode and IPS mode LCDs suffer from an off-pixel defect. Since the common electrode and the pixel electrodes are formed on the same substrate, they are frequently shorted with each other, causing a pixel to erroneously display black.